Feds have new plan for First Nations

Valcourt unveils reforms to emergency management

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 19/11/2013 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government wants to work directly with provinces and First Nations on emergency-measures reforms for aboriginal communities evacuated as a result of fires, floods and other disasters.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said in Winnipeg Tuesday the federal government has put $19 million into its proposed overhaul of the federal emergency-management protocol and hopes to use the new approach on all First Nations in Canada.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt speaks about his government's new plan for emergency management for First Nations in Winnipeg Tuesday. Purchase Photo Print

Eric Robinson

"This new approach aims to establish new and advanced agreements with provinces and territories who are the first responders on First Nations where there are forest fires or floods or other emergencies," Valcourt said.

Provinces would pick up the tab and handle administration directly with damaged or destroyed First Nations for evacuations, accommodations and recovery. Ottawa would compensate the provinces.

Valcourt made the announcement during a break in meetings with provincial and territorial aboriginal affairs ministers.

Some 2,000 evacuees from the 2011 flood are still out of their Interlake First Nation homes at a cost of more than $82 million.

Robinson, who hosted the one-day meeting, held the door open to Valcourt's changes for disaster assistance, saying any reforms would be an improvement.

"It's a great opportunity to revamp something that's not working very well, which we've had first-hand experience with," Robinson said. But he added Ottawa shouldn't think of the changes as a slam dunk, either.

"Nothing is going to move on that until there is ample opportunity for the provinces, the territories and the First Nations to have... some input in that," Robinson said.

The model for the federal proposal was Alberta's flood evacuation last summer. The biggest differences between the Alberta plan and the one in Manitoba is administrative.

In Manitoba, the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters acts as the middle man, handling evacuee arrangements. It submits bills to the province's emergency measures office. The province in turn hands the bills over to its federal counterpart, the Public Safety department, which runs the federal disaster financial assistance program.

Public Safety hands the bills off to Aboriginal Affairs, which must authorize Public Safety to pay the bills.

In the days after the Alberta flood last summer, the Alberta government provided immediate resources for First Nations and provided prepaid debit cards to evacuees to help with immediate financial aid. Alberta also pumped $85 million into housing and $10 million in jobs training.

"We have put in temporary relief shelters to ensure people had places to stay in before winter and are working on developing temporary neighbourhoods on the nations for the medium term until homes are repaired and/or replaced," said a spokesman for Robin Campbell, Alberta's minister of aboriginal relations. "No funding from the federal government has been received yet, but the federal government has announced that an advanced payment will be coming by the end of the fiscal year."

Both the Siksika and Stoney Nakoda First Nations in Alberta were heavily impacted. There are more than 1,000 people still out of their homes.

Steve Ashton, the provincial minister responsible for emergency measures, said Manitoba has served notice it will no longer act as an intermediary between Ottawa and First Nations in the payment of flood claims.

"We've indicated that we as a province don't want to be in a position of being the financial agent for the federal government," he said outside the legislature. "Our job is to be there to fight floods or other disasters for Manitobans."

Ashton added Manitoba will no longer participate in a convoluted process that saw it act essentially as an agent between Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Canada, which authorized spending but had no budget for paying out flood claims, and Public Safety Canada, which paid the bills.

Ashton said the province is pleased the federal government has recognized it must improve the delivery of disaster relief to First Nations but said Ottawa must also boost its investment in flood mitigation on reserves.

Program giving province headache

THE convoluted federal disaster-management program has been a headache for the province.

Manitoba's Emergency Measures Organization has been reluctantly drawn into disputes involving First Nation flood victims, service providers and the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters arising out of the 2011 flood. The EMO had reimbursed MANFF, the agency contracted by Ottawa to administer First Nations flood claims in the province. The province was then compensated by the federal government.

MANFF's handling of evacuee claims is a regular source of complaints for the chiefs of the flooded communities.

In the latest problem, MANFF initially turned away a mother and her adult son who were forced to give up their home in Lake St. Martin First Nation just last week. They'd stayed on the reserve despite the evacuation but the house, now overrun with mould, is slated for demolition as part of the community's resettlement plan. First Nation councillor Matthew Traverse said he eventually persuaded MANFF officials to relent and allow the pair to stay at an Ashern motel.

With ongoing problems like that, Lake St. Martin Chief Adrian Sinclair said in an interview he's cautious about any changes that give more control to either level of government at the expense of First Nations.

To complicate matters, there's also personal politics involved. The Ashern motel is owned by Mike Bruneau, who also owns Misty Lake Lodge in Gimli, and there's bad blood between Bruneau and the agency. Bruneau blew the whistle on MANFF's handling of the file, triggering a federal review that was harshly critical of the federal department's oversight of disaster management here.

Students ordered out of, back in, school

ALMOST a year after being briefly booted out of a temporary school at 1970 Ness Ave., Lake St. Martin teachers and students were ordered out again Tuesday.

The order was overturned in a matter of hours.

A spokesman for Lake St. Martin's chief and council said its third-party manager, who handles administration, intervened and saved the day.

"They haven't been evicted. The school is still in operation and there are still classes," said Dennis Cameron, Lake St. Martin's external expertise specialist.

He said the dispute isn't with the First Nation. It's between the landlord that holds the First Nation's lease and an unknown "third party."

"The current situation is there is conflict between the landlord and this third party. We tried to confirm the allegations (from the third party) and fill in the blanks," Cameron said.

The band couldn't get to the bottom of the dispute but by the end of the day, the school was still theirs, Cameron said.

A year ago, some 65 students from kindergarten to Grade 9 were briefly turned out of the same building after it failed fire code standards.

Students were out of school nearly three weeks before repairs were made to the heating system and fire code standards were met.

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